Tar Heels' Fedora: Circle the wagons, score more TDs

North Carolina coach Larry Fedora talks to North Carolina's Myles Wolfolk prior to Saturday's loss at East Carolina.▲

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina football coach Larry Fedora has been in tough situations before, so he’s trying not to allow the team’s 0-2 record to disrupt plans for the rest of the season.

“We'll learn from these things and get better this week," he said Monday in advance of Saturday afternoon’s home game against No. 18 Central Florida. "This is not the first bit of adversity that I've ever faced as a football coach. … I hate the fact that we're 0-2 right now, but it is what it is. You can't dismiss it. You go through the obstacle, not around it."

The optics didn’t look good with the Tar Heels crumbling in Saturday’s 41-19 loss at East Carolina.

In just two games, the shortcomings have been spread around. While the defense was mostly strong in the opener at California, East Carolina pounded the Tar Heels at times, particularly in the second half.

"We got on our heels early on," Fedora said. "We couldn't get off the field on third down."

Fedora’s teams have usually thrived on offense, but North Carolina has been shut out of two halves this season — the first half against California, the second half against East Carolina.

Problems with snaps contributed to the offensive snarls in the East Carolina game. Plus, there were four first-half field goals for North Carolina, which could have used more touchdowns.

"We didn't finish the drives,” Fedora said. “We needed to be more physical and be able to punch that ball in.”

Central Florida (2-0) will serve as North Carolina’s home opener. The Knights haven’t lost since the 2016 season.

Fedora said the Tar Heels don’t view this as a desperate situation because they want to win every week.

"When you're going into the first game, you want to win. When you're going into the second game, you want to win,” he said. “I don't know about playing desperate."

What Fedora wants to see from his team is sticking together, something he said was evident in the aftermath of the loss in Greenville.

He said the Tar Heels can learn from past disappointments and rally around each other.

“Circle the wagons, believe in each other, believe in what you’re doing,” he said. “How we handle adversity is who we become. They know what we've got to do. ... One, is just stay together.”

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